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Contents:
The End of "Peace": The End of "Peace" Anyone who breathes the air of Israel during summer 2003 can discern plans for war in the Fall. Israel's press is replete with Israeli intelligence reports which convey the precise plans of Israel's adversaries for war in the Fall. The 167 Arab terror attacks which occurred during the first month of the "Hudna" served as a somber reminder to the prognosis of Arab terror attacks to come. Official Palestinian Authority media is replete with war preparations: PA TV and radio carry daily salutes to martyrdom and Jihad in the war to "liberate all of Palestine." PA TV and radio show Arab refugees from 1948 and their descendants conducting parades in their UN refugee camps, marching in heavily armed processions, demanding the fulfillment of what they perceive as the UN promise of the "right of return" to their "villages from 1948," while Arab refugees and their descendants, while they demand that Israel "remove the settlements" as a condition for peace - Four million Arab refugees and their descendants openly define "settlements" on the PA media as Jewish cities like Beersheva, Ramle and Lod, which replaced Arab villages in 1948. The time has come to cope with reality. The PLO and Hamas and other Arab terror groups never agreed to any cease-fire. They did agree to a "Hudna," viewed in Arab Islamic folklore and defined in Islamic law as a respite between battles in a longer war against non-Arab Islamic infidels who are not a party to any such hudna. The PLO and Hamas planned their Hudna to last for exactly three months, and they mean it. All Palestinian Arab organizations conduct military training of their Palestinian Arab population, so that they can conduct a better organized and more cost effective war this time when the time for hostilities are scheduled to resume - at the precise end of the Hudna, on September 29, 2003, which this year marks the third calender day of the Jewish New Year. The ascension of Abu Mazen to a formal leadership position in the PLO has meant that the colorless PLO for the past generation may organize the finances and the armed forces of the Palestinian Authority in a better and more efficient manner, without lifting a finger to defuse the PLO. And the ubiquitous Arafat remains in the picture, running everything from his Ramallah Mukatta. Arafat plans the next stage of battle against Israel with an international character. For the first time in thirty years, Israel can expect that any outbreak of hostilities will be accompanied by active military support from Islamic countries in diverse directions - Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya and maybe even Egypt. PLO and Hamas leaders make it quite clear that if Israel does not agree to the terms of the road map and that if Israel does not agree to the terms of the road map, then the Hudna will terminate on September 29th as planned, and the Islamic regimes in the middle east will not stand idly by. The Palestinian Authority published thousands of copies of the Road Map for every Palestinian Arab to read. Yet hardly any Israelis have ever read the road map. The "road map," as it is presented, is based on the Saudi Plan from March 2002, which mandates that Israel withdraw to pre-1967 lines and that Israel recognize the "right of return" for all Palestinian Arab refugees to return to their homes from 1948. Most Israelis do not know that. Elul, the Jewish month before Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, is traditionally a time in which Jews take stock and reconsider the way in which they have been organizing their lives and their existence. This year, the month before Rosh HaShanah will provide Israel and Jewish communities abroad with an opportunity to learn about what the road map portends. An aside: When the Oslo process was launched:
Very people took Arafat seriously then . . . Even when Israeli intelligence held open briefings throughout the calender year 1999-2000 in which the IDF warned that the PLO was taking irreversible steps towards a war in September 2000, very few people took Arafat seriously. The time has come to take Arafat and his allies with the utmost of seriousness, and to understand that:
No one in Israel is prepared for a peace based on the Saudi principles. The PLO and Hamas know that. The population of Israel is just now waking up to the reality that the terms of the road map are indeed based on a Saudi plan unacceptable to Jews.
Remarks To the Council of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Chairman, thank-you for the opportunity to address this report on the situation of Palestinian refugees. While Canada is only an observer in this Assembly, we have a significant interest in this issue as Canada is a major donor to UNRWA, and continues to hold the Chair on the Palestinian refugee issue at the UN. I agree with many of the report's principal recommendations regarding the need for normal legal status for Palestinian refugees. Indeed, two years ago our Foreign Affairs Minister expressed Canada's willingness to contribute to the peace process by accepting Palestinian refugees for resettlement. But militants from Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction responded to his generous offer by burning our Minister in effigy in refugee camps, demonstrating that for too long innocent Palestinians have been held captive by forces in the Arab world who have opposed the normalization of their status for political reasons. While I recognize the good humanitarian work done by many UNRWA employees in difficult circumstances, I want to focus my remarks on a disturbing element of Palestinian refugee settlements which the report fails to address: namely, the open promotion of a culture of hatred and violence in UNRWA camps which stands as one of the principal obstacles to an enduring peace in the region. Too many of the camps have become breeding grounds for anti-Semitic propaganda and terrorist activity that has resulted in the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians. As early as 1976, the Lebanese Ambassador to the U.N. indicated that camps were being used as de facto military bases. He said: "The Palestinians acted as if they were a state within the State of Lebanon . . . They transformed most, if not all, of the refugee camps into military bastions." Today, UNRWA camps act as command stations for the worst terrorist groups in the region. Twenty-three homicide bombers are known to have originated from the Jenin camp alone. The former US Ambassador to Morocco said that "other organizations, including extremist Islamic organizations, operate freely in the camps." In some regrettable cases, UNRWA employees themselves have been affiliated with terrorist groups, like the case of Saheil Alhinadi , who praised the Hamas bombers who routinely murder Israeli civilians. He said that "The road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies." Upon entering several refugee camps in the West Bank last year, Israeli troops found illegal arms caches, bomb-making factories, and missile workshops. While the Agency is not a police or security force, it surely cannot avoid all responsibility to ensure that the camps that it administers do not turn into terrorist bases. As U.N. Secretary-General Koffi Annan himself said: "Refugee camps and settlements must be kept free from any military presence or equipment, including arms and ammunition." UNRWA has failed in this regard, and measures must be put into place that its resources are never used, even indirectly, by those planning or advocating murder and hatred. Such measures are contemplated by the UNRWA Accountability Act now before the US Congress. Terror groups like Hamas represent the greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East, and we cannot ignore their abuse of settlements administered and funded by a UN Agency. Not only are UNRWA camps operational centres for terrorists today, but too often they act as a breeding ground for future terrorists. Half of UNRWA's budget and over two-thirds of its staff are responsible for administering the educational system. UNRWA schools educate almost 250,000 Palestinian students using textbooks introduced by the Palestinian Authority. In 2001 and 2002, the Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace performed a comprehensive analysis of these textbooks using criteria set out by UNESCO. The Centre found that: "The educational approach employed by the [Palestinian National Authority] does not reflect international standards as defined by UNESCO. The textbooks do not teach acceptance of Israel's existence on the national level, and instead of working to erase hateful stereotypes, the new PNA curriculum is instilling them into the next generation's consciousness." The Palestinian textbooks, which are purchased by UNRWA, contain no reference to the State of Israel and erase Israel from maps of the region. The "shahid", or martyr, is praised as the spearhead of the resistance to Israeli occupation. Reports have indicated that posters glorifying suicide bombers have been posted in some UNRWA schools, while teachers known to be affiliated with Hamas have won election as representatives of their local teachers' unions. There will never be peace in the Middle East until peace is taught. By funding and operating schools that delegitimise the State of Israel while legitimising violence, we are helping to ensure that this conflict will not be resolved for another generation. In conclusion, I believe that the Council should support the Resolution's call for normalization of Palestinian refugees' legal status, and that we should commend UNRWA for the positive humanitarian work that it strives to achieve, but must ensure that camps operated largely through UN resources and oversight are not used to promote a culture of anti-Semitism and terrorism. Thank-you. Speech Given on June 24, 2003
How Israeli Intelligence
Interrogates Jewish Suspects From Hebron Yitzhak Pas is led to the GSS interrogation room at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. Two and a half years after a Palestinian sniper murdered his infant daughter at the entrance to their home in Hebron, Yitzhak was arrested together with his brother-in-law, Matityahu Shvo, with eight explosive bricks with a total weight of 4 kilograms in their possession. The GSS begins an exhausting race around the clock, in an attempt to persuade the two to admit that they belong to a Jewish terror organization, as well as their plan to kill innocent Arabs. Following are details of the investigation of Pas and Shvo, as well as the methods used by the interrogators to make them confess. No less than 16 different interrogators spoke with the two during their arrest, with some of them trying to create friendly ties with them, while others were playing "bad cop," who reprimanded them and moralized to them. During the interrogation, Pas and Shvo were also moved between three different interrogation sites, in Jerusalem, Maaleh Adumim, and Ashkelon. The sensitive report by the GSS was attached to the indictment against Yitzhak Pas, and is based on a summary of what was said in the interrogation rooms, as recorded in writing by the GSS interrogators during the questioning. On Friday night, two days after his arrest, Yitzhak Pas adamantly refused to speak during his interrogation, arguing that anything he would say could be distorted and used as evidence against him. The GSS interrogator nonetheless continued to try to persuade Pas, who was angry about the desecration of the Sabbath because of the timing of the interrogation. This is how the interrogator described the course of the interrogation in the memo he wrote: "I answered him that I understand his resentment at the fact that he was being interrogated on the Sabbath. I said regarding the matter, that despite the fact that I am secular, the Sabbath is also a special day for my family, especially today as it was my son's fourth birthday. I explained to him that we both found ourselves in a situation in which we were missing an important day." But Pas, said the interrogator, continued to remain silent. Each interrogation of Pas lasted between 5 and 14 hours. On that same Sabbath he was interrogated again, this time by another interrogator called "Gidon." In contrast to his predecessor, Gidon was harsh towards Pas, and reprimanded him for his total lack of cooperation. But Pas continued as before, and refused even to look the interrogator in the eye. "I told him that good manners are more important than observing the Torah," said Gidon later while describing the interrogation. "I explained to him that when someone greets you, you must respond politely. We are all Jews, belonging to the nation of Israel, and we have obligations to each other… I told him that his actions were irresponsible and originated from pure egotism and a lack of consideration of his family and his daughters. He knows that his actions and those of his friends will end in prison, and if he had any semblance of responsibility or commitment to his family, he would not be involved in such actions. "I pointed out to him that the killing of Arabs at this point in time would be useless and not achieve anything, with the proof being in the road map and the fact that despite the sabotage the dialogue with the Palestinians is continuing." "Gidon" ended the interrogation with this sentence: "I told him that only those who are motivated by ego and dark impulses go to kill Arab children in cold blood, and that he would never convince anyone otherwise. In response he smiled and looked at me scornfully." One of the controversial methods the interrogators used in order to convince Pas to talk, was to organize an unexpected meeting with one of the interrogators who had captured the Palestinian sniper who had murdered [his daughter] Shalhevet, following an intense and difficult intelligence effort. The interrogator at the time, who was called "Guy," later described the meeting in the report of the investigation: "I told him that an interrogator from the team who had questioned his daughter's killer wanted to talk to him. I took him into the interrogation room, but he didn't even open his eyes or respond to what was happening around him. I told him that he was belittling the people who had worked day and night in order to bring his daughter's killer to justice. But he preferred not to pay any attention to him. I told him to at least be polite and look at him, but it all fell on deaf ears." Later Pas said that he was going on a hunger strike, and would not say anything to anybody. At a certain stage during the interrogation, the GSS people employed a method called the "prisoner's dilemma," in which the two detainees are separated, and the interrogators tell each one that the other one is beginning to break down and cooperate, and that whoever continues not to talk will be punished more severely, while the other one will go free. But in Pas's case the ruse failed. This is what the interrogator called "Ofer" wrote: "The accused (Pas) was taken to a nearby interrogation room, where he saw his brother-in-law Matityahu Shvo talking with the interrogator called "Aryeh" and heard the two conversing. The accused was asked how he explained the fact that his brother-in-law talked freely during the interrogation and responded: 'I want to see a lawyer and I have nothing to add.'" In the meantime Matityahu continued to talk, but in contrast to the impression the interrogators were trying to create with Pas, he also refused to say anything about the purpose of the confiscated brick bombs. "We talked generally about the lessons in Pirkei Avot, where it is written among other things that we are commanded to treat people with respect," wrote the interrogator called "Nissim" later. "We read to him several verses from Proverbs, which contain great wisdom about caution, conforming, and integrity, while the accused chose to play with fire and deal with brick bombs. We told him not to complain about the bitterness of his fate, as stated in the verse concerning a man who walks on coals whose feet will burn. The accused did not respond. We told him that there is a way to prove his innocence and that he should undergo a polygraph test. The accused did not respond." At one of the most important moments of the interrogation, Shvo began to threaten the interrogators that they would be punished by God for their deeds. "The accused (Shvo) was asked why he was getting his brother-in-law Yitzhak Pas in trouble, and was not considering his special and delicate situation. He responded that the GSS interrogators are the ones who will pay in the court in the heavens to God for the abuse of Shalhevet Pas's father." The GSS tried using another measure in Shvo's investigation, when they mentioned Zeev (Zambish) Hever, today leader of the settlement movement in the territories and a close associate of Ariel Sharon, and formerly jailed for membership in the Jewish underground in the early '80s. This is how investigator "Amos" described it: "We told the suspect about the arrests of the underground and about Zambish's interrogation, who at first denied the charges but later confessed and even asked to apologize to the interrogators for his behavior." But this too didn't help. Shvo didn't react to the comparison, and the interrogators said he even declared, "Soon the wheel will turn and he (Shvo) will be the investigator and we will be the ones questioned." While Matityahu Shvo continued to taunt the investigators, Yitzhak Pas eventually decided to talk. This was on July 28, after 13 days of questioning. But even then Pas didn't tell the investigators what they wanted to hear, and instead gave "Ofer" a short admission saying: "I admit that weapons were found in my car, this is a fact that can't be denied, but there was no criminal intention here." Later on Pas claimed that many rogues use the name of his daughter, Shalhevet, for monetary gain. The investigator notes in the report, "The suspect related that there are people who exploit his personal tragedy, the murder of his daughter Shalhevet, by asking for his consent to set up non-profit organizations and associations named after his daughter, thus putting money into their private pockets." After the report of the investigation was exposed, Yitzhak Pas's and Matityahu Shvo's attorney, Naftali Hertzberger, claimed that extreme measures were used against them with no justification. He said, "The material shows that there was no justification for questioning them on the Sabbath, they are not ticking bombs and no lives were endangered. The notes show that they were questioned in the first two days for very long hours, continuing into the night. The material also shows that the two were not allowed to pray since they were not allowed to go to the synagogue and in their cells there were toilets, and according to halacha, it is forbidden to pray in a room with toilets." On the other hand, it is notable that the report shows that the GSS interrogators allowed the men to pray a number of times in the interrogation room, in which there are no bathrooms. The GSS commented yesterday: "All GSS investigations follow regulations and the law, and are monitored and supervised by all the relevant authorities. The investigation into the affair is not yet over and it is therefore impossible to relate to the details." This piece ran on August 14, 2003 in Maariv
PA Teenager's Summer camp Named
for Teenage Suicide Bomber August 15, 2003 Ayyat al-Akhras - a 17 year-old girl - was the youngest child suicide bomber, murdering 2 Israelis in a Jerusalem supermarket on March 29, 2002. The PA has named a children's summer camp in her name. This is the second summer in a row in which a camp was named for Akhras and continues the PA policy of naming summer camps, sporting events and schools, after prominent terrorists. This naming of a children's summer camp for a teenage terrorist is particularity problematic as it is quite natural for children to see another child being honored as a role model. The following appeared in yesterday's PA daily. "Dr. Ahmad al-Yazji, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports attended a graduation ceremony of a summer camp named after the Sahida (Woman who died for Allah) Ayyat Al Akhras. It was organized by the Shabaiba [youth organization] of the Fatah in East Gaza . . . . 150 children aged 9-15 participated in the camp . . .
Al-Yazji stressed the role of the struggle fulfilled by the Palestinian
National Liberation Movement "Fatah" and saluted the Shahids (Those who
died for Allah), the wounded and the prisoners."
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